Publicis Groupe’s new CEO, Arthur Sadoun, is sitting on the floor in a dark corner of the cavernous Porte de Versailles conference venue in Paris, and he looks grateful to be off his feet.
Sadoun has just unveiled the ad agency network’s big, mysterious, and bold new move into artificial intelligence – a project named “Marcel.”
But it hasn’t been cakewalk. Staff inside the company rebelled. Sadoun spent a year persuading his 80,000 employees that Marcel is the future.
It’s a huge gamble. No one knows if it will work. Sadoun, along with former CEO Maurice Levy and half-a-dozen of their senior staff, talked to Business Insider about the year-long struggle.
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Publicis CEO Sadoun says there is too much 'scam' work at the Cannes Lions. The Cannes Lions, like many advertising awards, are rife with fake ads that did not run as part of an official client campaign and were created solely for an awards show, Publicis execs believe.
But, not only is Sadoun himself attending and appearing on stage, but 84 Publicis staffers will be going along this year after as well, Campaign reports. This includes 15 people who are personally funding their own trips.
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